1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to merchandise display apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a carousel-type merchandise display stand which is vertically adjustable to permit expansion or contraction of the display surface area in accordance with the seasonal nature of the display items such that the display assembly has an attractive, well balanced and fully stocked inventory appearance at all times.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the retail sales area it is important for the retailer to present a balanced, "full-looking" display of merchandise items in order to ensure steady sales. A display of a depleted stock of merchandise makes a bad impression on the consumer and will kill sales.
A particular problem often encountered by the retailer with the display of merchandise such as small holiday gift merchandise or seasonal items (e.g. men's wallets, jewelry, sunglasses, etc.) is how to maintain an attractive, well balanced display while using a minimum amount of valuable floor/counter space for the display. In the field of eyeglass/sunglass displays, for example, it is desirable to display varying amounts of inventory from season to season since the "in stock" inventory changes according to seasonal consumer demand. Thus, during the summer months when sunglasses are popular, a larger amount of display area (and inventory) is required whereas in the winter months a lesser amount is required to meet the consumer demand.
For many retailers, small inventory levels mean discontinuance of the product altogether because a small amount of product on a large display looks bad and kills sales and the retailers cannot afford to maintain a full display. Using a smaller display in turn cannot accommodate larger inventories during peak selling months.
Typical sunglass/eyeglass display stands include the carousel-type counter top displays and the free standing rotatable floor display models commonly found in most department and retail stores. Example prior art patents which disclose rotatable or carousel-type sunglass/merchandise display stands include U.S. Pat. No. 2,808,941 issued to Foster, U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,357 issued to Bloch, U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,760 issued to Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,647 issued to Crosslen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,331 issued to Salmon et al., U.S. Patent Nos. 5,052,563 and 5,054,624 both issued to Camp, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,077 issued to Mitchell. None of the above cited prior art patent documents teach to adjust the size of the merchandise display area on their display stands to achieve a "full look" of display items on the stand.
To overcome the display size limitation problem, many retailers use one or more different display stands which vary in display area so that the selected display stand always appears fully stocked no matter the season. However, this poses another problem for the retailer since the additional unused display stands take up valuable floor space and must be stored off-site during the off season for the particular display item. Further, these display stands are heavy and cumbersome to move around and contain modular component parts which tend to come loose and get lost during such a move. This becomes a big problem when additional or larger display stands must be continuously carted back and forth between storage and the retail floor area for the many periodic promotions put on by the average retailer.
Another approach to resolving the display area size limitation problems is to provide a display stand with layers of removable display racks. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,092 issued to Surrette et al. there is disclosed a rotary sunglass display stand which includes a plurality of display rack holders attached to a central rotatable shaft member wherein each holder supports a display rack containing a dozen sunglasses. Surrette's sunglass display stand includes a "strip down" feature whereby individual display racks may be removed from their holders to reveal an inner core of similarly supported sunglass display racks to achieve a reduction in the total number of sunglasses on display racks from 12 dozen (12 racks) to 3 dozen (3 racks). A disadvantage with this system is the difficulty in accessing or even viewing a particular pair of sunglasses disposed along an inner core display rack without first removing an overlying outer core display rack.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,735 issued to Cohen it is known to provide a rotatable garment display rack with a vertical height adjustment means which includes a clutch member for engaging a threaded shaft disposed internal of a telescoping main support rod wherein disengagement of the clutch member permits vertical adjustment of the main support rod. Cohen teaches to provide vertical height adjustment to raise or lower a hoop member for hanging like sized garments (which are positioned on hangers) therefrom. Cohen is directed towards displaying garments of different sizes and does not teach or suggest to adjust the merchandise display surface area on his stand in a manner which increases or decreases the number of display items which may be positioned thereon.
Accordingly there is a definite need in the art for a rotatable merchandise display stand which includes an expandable display surface area to permit year-round display of varying quantities of product while maintaining the look of a full display and which permits easy access to all merchandise items on the display. There is a need for a display stand of the above kind which is low cost and simple to operate.